A Fullmetal Faerietale
by 15x6x4-ever
Summary: When the fates of two children, fae and human, entwine an unbreakable bond is forged and a fickle relationship forms. Never before though, was a relationship between changelings as twisted as the one between one reluctant Edward Elric and a human hating Fae named Envy. Walking a mile in another's shoes just got a whole new meaning. AU, Edvy, Rated M for Blood/Gore
1. Prologue : Gray

**An/:**Okay sooo, new story! I'm real excited for this one, 's got one hell of a plot. But more about that at the end, for now just some necessities and then please enjoy!

**Disclaimer : I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist, this disclaimer counts for the whole story. **

**Warning : This story will contain mentions and descriptions of **_**blood/gore**_** and **_**violence.**_** If you can't handle that then please leave, this story is not for you.**

* * *

**Prologue : Gray**

A dead silence reigned in the village square as the woman was led to the blackened iron stake in the middle, a bag covering her head. The sky was dark, an oppressive gray, and Ed knew it would rain later on that day. Next to him his little brother shivered and snuggled further into his thin gray sweater.

Everything seemed gray that day.

His father too, stood next to them, dressed in his best gray suit a grim expression on his face. Everything was gray, but what stood out to Ed were not the gray suits nor the gray sky above them but the gray expressions everyone had. No one looked happy, no one smiled, No, instead all of them watched with a grim determination as the woman was dragged to the middle and led up the rickety wooden steps, before being tied to the stake. The bag on her head was finally pulled off, her identity revealed, and Ed gasped.

That woman was their mother.

Besides him Alphonse let out a startled yell and tried to run forward but their father grabbed his small arm and held him back. Ed didn't notice though, he was too busy wondering what their mother was doing up there?

When their father had come to wake him and his brother up that morning he hadn't told them what was going on. Only that they should get dressed as quickly as possible and thrown their current, grey, apparel at them. The boys had wondered then what was going on and why their mother wasn't waking them up, as was usual, but their pleas had gone ignored.

Now, barely a half an hour later they were all huddled in the square, staring as their mother was being tied to the pole. Ed had never known what that stake was used for, he'd asked once but when he did there had been such a look of sorrow in his mother's eyes when she told him that 'he'd find out when he was older' that he hadn't dared to ask again. All he knew was that that pillar made his mother sad and now she was tied to it.

Something was wrong, horribly, horribly wrong.

Ed turned to his father and tugged on his sleeve trying to get his attention. After a few pulls he succeeded and the man looked down at him. "Daddy?" He asked, "Why is mommy up there?"

His father's face seemed to turn even more grim at his words and he grimaced, pulling his sleeve from the little boy's grasp before turning bake to the stake. "That _thing_ is not your mother."

Ed looked back at the woman as well and tilted his head, no matter how he looked at it that was his mother tied to the stake there. Confusion took a hold of him and he started tugging on his father's sleeve again, but the man was too busy holding back his little brother too pay any attention to him.

Starting to feel desperate Ed turned to the people around them. There, only a little ways of stood the baker and his wife. The couple had always been very nice to Ed and Al and the woman had often sneaked them some pastries when her husband wasn't looking.

Thinking they might want to answer his questions Ed ran over to them as fast as his chubby little legs could carry him. His father, distracted as he was, did not notice/

Once he reached them Ed immediately tapped the woman's arm, startled she looked down, only to see the little Elric and her face immediately morphed into a look of pity.

"Yes Edward?" She asked, talking quietly as though talking too loud might somehow hurt her.

"What are they going to do to mom?" He asked, an uncharacteristic seriousness in his childish face.

"Oh sweetie, that thing's not your mother." The woman said, pity clear in her voice.

Her words did not help Ed's confusion at all, and apparently the woman noticed because she continued, "That _thing_ is a monster."

Ed startled, how could his mommy be a monster? Still he knew monsters existed. He'd heard some of the adults talking about them when they thought he wasn't listening. But how could his mother be one of them? Deciding he would think on that later he turned back to the woman, there was still something he needed to know.

"But what are they going to do with her?"

The woman's face twisted into an ugly sneer, and Ed almost lost his balance. He never knew that kind woman could look so frightening.

"They'll burn it of course. It's what these creatures deserve."

Now Ed really did lose his balance and he fell back as if slapped. Horrified he turned his eyes back to the stake, a pyre he knew now, and watched as a black-haired man in the military uniform lowered a match to the wood gathered at the foot of the stake.

The flames soon caught and started to spread, Ed couldn't believe it. They really were going to burn his mother!

He let out a startled yell as the realization finally hit and before the baker's wife could help him up he'd already sprung to his feet and was running through the crowd. For once he was glad for his small size as it enabled him to run through a lot faster and before he knew it he was out of the crowd.

He could see the flames spreading, rapidly and knew he had to hurry. Without even wasting another second he slipped through the arms of the black-haired male that had lit the fire and ran up the rickety wooden stairs to the foot of the pyre. Closing his eyes he took a deep breath, and before he could start hesitating jumped into the flames, reaching for his mother.

He could hear her calling out for him, telling him to stay away, but he wouldn't listen, and before he knew the flames surrounded him and the only thing he could hear was the roar of the fire, and the only thing he felt was the heat of the flames.

He reached out blindly and felt his arm make contact with something solid, the stake perhaps, but then, suddenly, he was pulled away. Away from the fire and the heat, but, more importantly away from his mother.

He struggled weakly against the arms pulling him back, barely conscious of his actions, only hearing the harsh, piercing screams of his mother as the fire finally reached her.

Eventually he gave up struggling and just lay there, in the arms of the black-haired soldier that had lit the pyre and watched as his mother writher through the flames. Suddenly the screams stopped and a wave of water came splashing through the flames. Most of it evaporated before it reached the crowd but a few drops splashed on Ed's cheeks and joined the water already there in creating small trails down his face.

Ed ignored them though, he just kept staring at the burning bright orange flames that had smothered his mother, and, as he finally succumbed to sweet oblivion, found himself thinking that he would never be discontented with gray ever again.

* * *

**An/** A_nd that's it for now, If you've read till here then I hope you've enjoyed. Now a bit more explanation about this story's concept. It's based on the myths about faeries/fae/fairies and especially on the myths about changelings. I'll summarize it here but its really just the basics, more info will be revealed throughout the story, though you can always ask if somethings not clear. _

_According to mythology faeries would sometimes come to human towns/settlements and steal their children, mostly infants from their cribs. In the place of these stolen children they'd leave one of their own children. These switched children were called changelings. What exactly happened to the children is not clear, but you'll figure out soon enough what route I plan to take ;) _

_Hmm real long AN but it's necessary for now,It's only the prologue after all. I promise to keep 'em shorter in future chapters though. If you want future chapters that is…;) _

_Anyways please let me know what you think and till next chapter (I hope)!_

_xXxMai_


	2. Chapter 1 : Follow

**Chapter 1 : Follow**

* * *

A small boy trudged down the beaten village streets. His blonde hair waved back and forth in its braid, contrasting nicely with his bright red coat and the dull surroundings. Everywhere he looked there was the glint of metal, of steel and iron. The windowpanes of the many small windows, more like holes in the wall really, were all made of the stuff. Just like the doorposts, roof tiles, even some of the doormats had small iron threads woven through the fabric.

This was what it meant to live in the fully iron city.

He passed by the prison, one of the few buildings in the city that still looked new and shiny. As one of the most important buildings in the city it was always kept in tiptop condition, not a single spot visible on its reflective surface. Unlike the blackened surface of the cold iron pole placed in the middle of the village square. Just like the prison this was one of the most frequented places in the village but no matter how hard people tried to clean it and scrub away the soot, it wouldn't leave and thus it remained stained black forever. It was fitting the boy thought, that the pole would forever reflect the blackened stains it had left on his heart.

He tore his gaze away from the blackened metal and kept walking, ignoring the many villagers staring at him. He was used to it.

Everywhere he went people would stare at him, if not for the burned and scarred flesh of his hand than for his reputation as one of the village outcasts. It did not matter though, there were only a few people who mattered to him and they didn't care about his hand or his reputation. They were all the same after all.

There was Pinako, the old woman he lived with. Winry, her daughter. His brother, Alphonse. All of them outcasts, all of them in the same boat and all for mostly the same reason ; The Faeries.

Pinako because she never showed up to the burnings, refused to speak bad of the Fae and sheltered the other three from harm. That didn't mean he always liked her, she was a crazy old bat in his opinion, but he did respect her. If only because she got that same look in her eyes when watching the burning pole that his mother had always had.

Winry… well Winry's story was something completely different. When she was younger she had been kidnapped by the Faerie but somehow she had managed to escape. At first she had been hailed as a village hero, proof that the people truly could conquer the fae. That had soon changed however when the villagers found out she wouldn't speak a single bad word about her former captors, nor would she tell them how she had escaped or where the fae hid. The adoration had soon turned to spite and then to cruelty and now Winry was one of the most hated individuals in the city. If not for her amazing skills as a smithy the people would have probably burned her a long time ago. Still, being the best smith in a city made of iron had its perks and no one had tried to harm her yet, not after that one time so long ago at least..

The boy shook his head, trying to rid himself of the negative thoughts, trying to think of happier things.

His little brother, Alphonse, for example. Al was a bright child, always smiling and kind and wouldn't hurt a fly. Needless to say that with his past and personality he did not like the almost monthly burnings one bit. In the beginning some of the people had tried to convince the sweet boy to come stay over at their place, leave behind the freaks that had adopted him and tried to 'save him' as they'd called it. Al would have none of it though and, in his customary polite tone, had kindly told them to fuck off. Well, he hadn't told them to fuck off exactly, Al probably didn't even know what those words meant, but that's what it came down to and he could honestly say he was proud of his little brother.

Then there was him, the last of their little band of outcasts ; Edward Elric, son of Trisha Elric, faerie captive and Hohenheim Elric, a family abandoning bastard. With a far more serious and uncaring personality than his brother it wasn't hard to figure out that Ed wasn't the most liked person in the village. His burned hand and leg did nothing to help him either. To the villagers the burned flesh was a sign of his alliance to the faerie and his willingness to help them, moving in with the Rockbells had only solidified that idea for them.

Ed heaved a sigh, ignoring the many suspicious looks this earned him and opened the door to the town bakery. A small iron bell sounded its hollow clanging when he entered but Ed just ignored it. Quickly and quietly he made his way over to the counter, scowling when he met the bakers eyes. The man glared back and had just opened his mouth, probably to tell him to get out, when the door opened and the small bell started its hollow clanging again.

The baker closed his mouth and turned to the other customer with a warm, welcoming smile, obviously choosing to ignore Ed for now. Ed tssked under his breath and was about to leave, he'd just have to find some bread somewhere else when he saw who had entered. For a minute his frown deepened but then he came up with an idea and slowly he started smiling.

"Hey bastard!" He called out, earning himself another glare from the baker who immediately started making excuses to the tall black haired male Ed had addressed, while telling Ed to get out. Ed just ignored him and walked over to the taller male who'd turned around now, military uniform perfectly ironed, a small scowl on his face.

"Elric." He answered with a small nod, obviously less than pleased to see the other, but much more composed than the angry shopkeeper, his was more of a quiet disdain than the open hate of the baker.

"You always jump the queue, bastard?" Ed grunted out, pushing himself before the other.

The other just stared at him, eyebrow raised, before flicking his coal black gaze back to the angry baker and then back at Ed again, a look of understanding filling his eyes. He kept up the indifferent act though and when he spoke it was in that same disdainful tone. "I'm sorry, I just didn't see you there." The 'because you're so small' was not spoken but instead lingered in the air, more than clear from the others tone and gaze.

"WHO'S SO SMALL A FLEA WOULDN'T NOTICE HIM?!" Ed yelled out, causing another angry yell from the baker for him to shut up and a satisfied look to flash through the Colonel's face.

"My, my Elric, no need to get so upset." The man said, though it was more than obvious that he'd expected the reaction and enjoyed riling the other up. "Here, to make it up to you I'll let you go first, how's that?" He gestured to the counter and Ed grumpily took his place, at least his plan had worked.

He placed his order and the baker could do nothing but comply, not with the 'great' Colonel Roy Mustang looking expectantly at him like that.

Once he got his order Ed quickly left the stuffy bakery and shitty company behind. He'd have to find another way to get bread though, there was no way the baker would let him come back after that. He was just lucky Mustang showed up or he would have been kicked out without anything at all, not that he'd ever tell the bastard that though.

Roy Mustang and Edward Elric had a complicated past. On the one hand the bastard was the village pride, a hero of the Ishbalan purge. Nicknamed 'The Flame', not only because of the many Faerie he'd uncovered and burned, but also because he managed to light a fire in every women's heart, he was the villages most coveted bachelor and a true perv in Ed's opinion.

The only reason the two really tolerated each other was Winry. For some reason Ed couldn't even begin to comprehend Winry liked the bastard and the Colonel tolerated her, if barely. It wasn't exactly the most conventional friendship, but a friendship it was and so Ed tried to tolerate the other male to keep Winry happy. He knew how hard it was for her to make friends after all.

Ed was pulled from his reverie by the sound of light footsteps coming up behind him, he immediately recognized the soft thread and turned around with a smile, just in time to catch his little brother before he slammed into him. Sometimes Al could be such a kid.

He ruffled Al's hair before softly pushing him away from him, "Hey Al, what's up?" He asked, knowing his brother wouldn't come out into the village unless he had business there. "Auntie Pinako told me I should go make sure you didn't forget the milk again." Al answered, a slightly scolding look taking over his features when he mentioned Ed's regular habit of 'forgetting' to get the dairy products when he went shopping.

Ed scratched the back of his neck sheepishly as he looked at the bag with bread and a couple of greens hanging by his side. Al followed his gaze and let out a resigned sigh. "The old hag knows me too well." Ed grumbled as his brother grabbed his hand and started dragging him back to the centre of the village where the dairy shop was located.

"I'm sorry brother." Al replied sweetly, obviously not sorry at all. "but I actually like milk."

Ed let out another heavy sigh and let himself be dragged back to the store without any further protest, today was really not a good day for the oldest Elric.

* * *

All was silent as two figures made their way through the vast woods surrounding the fully iron city. The sparse moonlight falling through the cracks in the foliage illuminated their perfect pale skin and caused deep purple eyes to flash every time the light caught them.

One of the figures moved determinedly, a single minded focus coloring his steps. The other, smaller, shade moved less elegantly, seeming almost like he was hurrying after the first shade, but still quietly.

Eventually the second shade managed to catch up with the first and grabbed his arm, pulling him to a stop. The taller figure seemed none too pleased with this, wrenched his arm free and pushed the other away from him. The small shadow fell to the ground with a huff but scrambled back up immediately, calling out to the other as he did so, "Wait!"

Disturbed by the obnoxiously loud call the first shadow turned back from where he'd returned to walking and waited, crossing his arms impatiently as he did so.

The smaller figure, seeing he had the others attention immediately ran over to him and took hold of his arm again. This caused the other to let out a displeased noise, but the small figure ignored him and continued in a pleading voice, "Please don't do this."

The other tssked and tried to wrestle free again, obviously not moved by the others plea.

Getting desperate the smaller shade just tightened his grip though and hung on for all he could. "Please," He continued begging, "We can go anywhere you want, anywhere except here. Please not here, Envy, not here."

The other, now identified as Envy, scoffed before finally giving up on getting the other to let go and glared down at the other. "You know I can't do that." He hissed out. "You know why. _You_ of all people should know that." The last words were hissed with such scorn that the little boy could do nothing but let go, liquid shimmering in his violet eyes.

"I do." He said quietly and looked away, secretly wiping his eyes when he thought the other wasn't looking.

"Then let's go." Envy grunted out, looking at the sky. "We don't have much time left."

The little boy just nodded and followed, no longer making a fuss and together the two slipped back into the woods.

* * *

_Follow._

That was the first thing Edward Elric thought upon waking.

_Follow._

Sleep dazed he turned around, only to find a small shadow standing by his bedside and then he knew, he should…

_Follow. _The shadow whispered again in his mind and Ed subconsciously nodded his head in agreement.

He pulled of his blankets and stood, waiting obediently in front of the shade. Somewhere he knew this wasn't normal, that this shade shouldn't be here in the middle of the night, in his bedroom. Somewhere he knew, but that didn't matter, nothing mattered. All that mattered was that he should _Follow._

The shade looked deep into the glazed over eyes of its captive and nodded slightly. At that sign a second shade broke away from the other shadows in the corner and moved over to the other two. Ed didn't notice though, he was completely focused on the first shade, on _following. _

And so he didn't notice when the second shade softly touched his forehead and started to change, shrinking and shifting until there stood not a second shade, but a second Edward Elric.

Seeing that the transformation was complete the first shade nodded once more to the Ed duplicate before turning to the window and disappearing back in to the woods.

The real Edward stood there for a second, dazed, before following and disappearing just like the shade into the woods.

Back in the room Envy smiled as he watched the two leave, before walking over and closing the window, hissing as the iron made contact with his skin briefly. He ignored it though, still much too pleased with the happenings for him to get bothered over such a small thing.

The window closed, he returned to the bed and slid underneath the covers.

Tomorrow would be a big day for him.

* * *

**AN/** Kay, and thats it! The first official chapter :) It's still mostly a set up with the different characters and all, but we got the plot moving. Now let's see how the boys like their new lives huh? Anyways I'd like to thank you all for the great support, reviews, faves alerts and just for plain reading and I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as well. See ya next chappie! xXx Mai (and yes, I know. Very boring, standard AN but I just got back from vacation in Switserland and I'm pretty tired right now :)


	3. Chapter 2 : Getting Settled

**Chapter 2 : Getting Settled**

* * *

It _burned_.

That was the first thought that came to mind as Envy woke up that morning. Grunting from the pain he carefully lifted his arm, the source of the burning, and held it closer to his face. Through the blurry fog that was sleep he could barely make out an angry red mark on Edward Elric's lightly tanned skin. Feeling slightly confused he looked around for the cause of the mark, but saw only sheets and the comfortably soft matrass he had slept on that night. Sitting up and letting the sheets pool around his now much shorter body, he looked down and over the edge of the bed. That's when he saw it.

A corner of the sharp, _iron_, bedframe was peeking from beneath the mass of sheets and glinted coldly back at him. From there out it was easy to figure out what had caused the blistering spot that had been causing Envy such discomfort. He quickly moved to hop of the bed and cover the cruel metal with the matrass again, but ended up misjudging the distance of his new, shorter body to the floor and ended up smashing painfully into said floor instead.

Grumbling and cursing about midgets and their impossible statures, he pulled himself up of the floor and slowly climbed to his feet. He took a few minutes to get used to his new height and looked around the room carefully, trying to familiarize himself with his new sleeping quarters while at the same time searching for any other metallic menaces he would do best to avoid.

Last night he'd been much too caught up in the glee that came with finally setting his plans into motion to really focus on anything but that, but now that he did have the presence of mind to look around he was none too pleased by what he saw. The sun was starting it's slow ascent and the early morning rays cast their light into Edward Elric's small, second story bedroom, and onto the dozen or so pieces of furniture placed strategically around the room. Most of them were wooden, but all of them had heavy, iron accents. Where the light hit the metal it looked almost as if a miniature sun was burning on the well-polished surfaces as they reflected the light. It gave Envy a headache just looking at it.

It wasn't anything he hadn't expected though. The city was not known as 'the Fullmetal City' for nothing after all. Still, he'd hoped that the iron security of the city would end with the iron doors and window latches, and perhaps an old horseshoe hanging over a newborn's crib. He didn't think they'd be this thorough. Add to that that the Elrics just so happened to live with the Rockbells, the city's famous blacksmiths, and his mission might just have gotten that much more dangerous.

He rubbed his arm where the burn was now no more than a small discolored spot, looking more like an ugly bruise than the horrid blister it had been mere minutes before. He was lucky the boy's skin was already so horribly disfigured, he thought, as he glanced at the Elric's other arm which was a notably darker color and covered in old burn scars. It would certainly help hide the smaller burns that may appear if he was forced to touch any of the cold metal objects, as long as he used his burned arm for handling them that is.

Absentmindedly he wondered where the boy had gotten the scars. They looked old, their reddish brown surface nothing like the angry red it must have once been, and when he tried to flex his fingers he found the movement was slightly hindered by the twisted tissue. The boy had obviously been burnt badly and it wasn't just his arm either. Looking down he found his, or should he say the Elric's, left leg was burned and disfigured as well, though slightly less than his arm was.

Envy felt a small stirring of satisfaction as he took in the scarred flesh. He knew it was wrong, hell the other fae would probably be disgusted with him if they knew what Unseelie thoughts he was thinking right now, but a small part of him felt happy knowing the Elric had suffered. He deserved it after all.

'_Probably got those wounds trying to light his own pyre or something.' _

Envy envisioned a small blonde child trying to eagerly build and light their own stake so they could pretend-burn a faerie, and felt sick. The thought alone was disgusting, but that feeling was nothing compared to the pure loathing that came with knowing it may very well be true.

He glanced at the scarred flesh once more, a new kind of disgust now present in his gaze, before he decided he couldn't bear looking at it any longer and instead made his way over to the tall wardrobe in the corner.

He used one of the bed sheets to protect his hand and opened it carefully. He could feel the cold burn of the iron through the thin sheets but ignored it, knowing that the small burns would disappear soon enough.

When the large double doors had finally opened, he looked inside to find what looked like several copies of the same outfit waiting for him, as well as a well-worn pair of white gloves. Disregarding the other articles of clothing for now, Envy quickly pulled on the gloves, wincing when he felt the coarse material scrape over his irritated skin. Soon enough though, the small ache disappeared and Envy was free to pull on the rest of his outfit with only minor discomfort.

Checking himself in the large mirror that was attached to the inside of the closet's door, he carefully adjusted the collar of his new red cloak and stepped back. 'His' long blonde hair was hanging freely over his shoulders and his new, oddly golden, eyes were staring in the mirror with a quiet intensity.

All in all, Envy had to admit that there were worse bodies to be stuck in. If you ignored the scarring and the small stature his changeling actually looked kinda cute.

A wave of disgust washed through him at that thought. An Elric? Cute? Something had to be seriously wrong with him. No way did this monster look cute. It had to be the change messing with his head.

Before he could inspect his new body further he was interrupted by a couple of enthusiastic knocks on the door, which was then promptly thrown open. Envy winced as it banged into the wall with a loud, metallic clang and whirled around to watch the stranger.

Said stranger turned out to be a young boy. He had the same golden eyes as Envy's current body, though a few shades darker, and his blonde hair was cut short. The boy himself stood about a foot taller than Ed, even though his softer features obviously marked him as the younger of the two. The boy, his brother Alphonse if his changeling's memory served him right, watched him curiously for a moment or two, taking in his immaculately dressed appearance and the still rising sun through his small window, before quirking an eyebrow in question.

Envy just stared back silently, waiting for the other to speak so he wouldn't say anything stupid himself. He only had a few of Edward Elric's memories after all, enough to recognize some faces here and there, and to know his own name, but he hadn't had the time for a full transfer the night before and so he was left in the dark on how he should react to the sudden invasion of his privacy.

Eventually his little brother broke the silence, still staring at Envy curiously with those eerie eyes.

"You're up early, brother." The little brat remarked. "Normally I'd have to drag you out of bed, and it's the weekend too! What's the occasion?"

Envy almost scoffed at the kid and told him to bugger off, but then he remembered his role and instead settled for looking slightly sheepish, rubbing the back of his head and turning his head to the side a bit like the mention of his bad habit embarrassed him. "I don't know." He answered. "I just had some trouble sleeping last night."

"You do look a bit tired." Al observed, a small amount of concern making its way into his voice. "Are you alright? I could ask auntie Pinako if she'd let you sleep in a bit longer if you want. I'm sure she wouldn't mind."

Envy could feel the disgust in him rising when he saw the supposed concern in the Elric's eyes. The boy was this concerned about someone not sleeping right but when it came to burning people alive he didn't bother? Bloody hypocrite.

He couldn't answer like that though so instead he tried to put on a bright smile. "Nah, I'll be fine. Don't worry, Al." Seeing that the boy still didn't look completely convinced he quickly added on, "Sides, I'm hungry. Let's go eat."

That seemed to do the trick and Al immediately proceeded to drag him down the stairs. On the one hand Envy was glad, as that meant he wouldn't have to try and find his own way to the kitchen, but on the other he just wanted to rip the boy's arm off. How _dare_ that kid touch him? Sure Alphonse thought he was his brother, but still! Envy didn't like people touching him, only his own brother Wrath had that privilege, and being touched by, of all people, _an Elric…_It was enough to make him puke.

He suppressed the urge though, trying to think of other, happy things instead. That didn't really work out either, but at least he hadn't ripped the kid's arm of by the time they reached the kitchen and he considered that a great accomplishment.

A quick look around showed that the kitchen furniture was much like the pieces he'd seen in his own room. The cupboards were all made of a light wood with engraved metallic handles and the countertops were a gleaming silver, their bodies made from the same light wood. Luckily it seemed like whoever had made the things had laid off on the metal for the chairs and table, which were simple wooden constructions.

Alphonse had let go of him the minute they entered the room and was now busily preparing a bowl of cereal for himself. Envy hesitantly moved over to where the younger boy was standing and opened the fridge. He didn't know what Edward liked, so he figured he'd go for something simple.

One of the biggest disadvantages of switching with an older human instead of a babe or toddler was that they already had set preferences. It's why no one really tried that anymore, unless the human had consented beforehand. That way they'd be able to do a full memory exchange and the extra risk was made nonexistent. Of course Envy himself hadn't had that luxury and now he was gonna have to pay for it. He figured it wouldn't be too difficult though, everybody liked cereal right?

Grabbing the milk and a bowl from the same cupboard he'd seen Al take his own from, he patiently waited for his brother to put down the box, before taking it from him and pouring some cereal and milk in his bowl.

Seeing a rack with cutlery standing in a corner of the counter he got himself a spoon and sat down at the table, before happily starting on his breakfast. Switching always left him hungry.

He absently noted that the other Elric was being pretty quiet and thought that maybe he'd misjudged the boy. When he first came barging into his room he'd thought his little brother would be an annoying, attention-seeking brat, that would keep bugging him all day long. But now it seemed like he might actually get some peace and quiet after all. He smiled happily to himself as he slurped some of the milk from his spoon, he'd always liked milk, and not a second later a weird choking noise could be heard from the other side of the room.

Looking up curiously, Envy saw it had been Alphonse who had made the odd noise.

His younger brother was staring at him like he'd seen a ghost, trembling and making odd gurgling noises as he stared at Envy in disbelief. "Y-you, that, m-milk." He muttered, too shocked to really create a full sentence.

Envy looked at him weirdly before shrugging and turning back to his breakfast. "The milk? What's wrong with it?" He questioned, confused. "Is it expired or something?" He took a cautious sip of the white liquid and mulled it over for a bit. "Still tastes fine to me."

"Tastes…fine." Al repeated dumbly and continued staring at him weirdly.

Envy was starting to feel a bit uneasy now. He didn't show it though, instead trying to act annoyed and secretly hoping the kid would quit scrutinizing him like that.

"Yeah I just said that." He grumbled, shooting a wary glance at the Elric.

"Yeah…you did." Alphonse seemed to be having trouble believing it. "You really did! _You_ said the _milk _tastes _fine._" The poor boy looked like he was about to faint from shock.

Envy just kept staring at him, unease growing. He'd obviously done something very wrong, though he had no idea what. He looked back at his breakfast warily and put his spoon down, whatever it was obviously had something to do with his choice of dairy product and then chanced another glimpse at Alphonse.

The boy was still stupefied, leaned heavily against the kitchen counter and looking as if he were about to start hyperventilating. Staring at the kid did give him an idea though.

He immediately morphed his skin to take on a slight greenish hue and bent over the table, letting his face smack into the wooden table top with a forced groan.

That seemed to snap his, thankfully temporary, brother out of his stupor and, with a worried outcry of 'Ed!', the kid was soon standing at his side, shaking him gently and asking him what was wrong.

Envy made sure to put on his most pitiful face, before turning to regard his brother through half-lidded, unfocused eyes, groaning painfully as he did so. A slight illusion made his forehead seem incredibly warm to the touch when his brother tried to take his temperature, making the younger gasp, and a slight alteration to his larynx made Edward's voice seem raspy and weak when he told Alphonse that maybe he wasn't feeling so well after all.

The boy, of course, believed him just fine and immediately started fussing over him, helping him up and supporting him all the way back to his room. Envy didn't need to fake his nausea any longer as he felt the human touch him, but, for the sake of his plans, he endured and let the boy help him to his brother's bed.

All the while he listened as the boy fussed over him, mumbling things like how he should've know his brother would never even _touch _milk unless there was something seriously wrong with him, and berating Envy for not telling him immediately and being so stubborn.

When Alphonse finally left him alone with the promise that he'd tell auntie Pinako that Ed was sick and couldn't come help in the smithy, Envy let out a relieved sigh, before dropping all the illusions and sitting up.

It seemed like his plan had worked. The younger Elric was no longer suspicious of him. It had been close though, and Envy silently cursed stupid humans and their stupid free will. If Edward Elric would have just agreed to the transfer he wouldn't have been in this situation. What kind of idiot didn't like milk anyway? He scoffed angrily, The Edward Elric kind obviously.

He was just lucky the boy was apparently incredibly stubborn, otherwise his little 'suddenly sick' act might not have worked as well as it had, or at all really. It had though, and Envy guessed he now had another couple of hours to kill before someone would come check up on him.

He looked around the room and spotted a couple of papers spread across the wrought iron desk and a wry smile spread across his lips.

Maybe it was time he got to know his little changeling a bit.

* * *

**An/** A bit of a sudden ending perhaps but I had to cut it off somewhere. This chapter's mostly about Envy getting settled in and showing a bit of his mindset regarding the Elric's and humans in general. As well as giving you some extra info about the fae, or my take on them at least.  
That reminds me, for those of you who aren't as big of a myth nerd as I am, Envy mentions having '_Unseelie thoughts'_ in this chapter. The fae are often divided into two courts, a light and a dark one, otherwise known as the Seelie and Unseelie courts respectively. We'll get further into that later on, but I figured I'd mention it here anyways for those of you who were confused by this.  
Also a changeling is a term for the human that has been switched, as well as the fae that has taken their place.  
Next chapter we'll move to Ed and see what he thinks of his new 'home'. I know we're moving a bit slow for now and I have to say it'll probably stay that way for a while. I hope you guys don't mind though cause that's the only way I see this working out and I promise it'll be worth it in the end!

Thank you for reading and hope to see you again next time!

xXx~Mai

_Ps. For those of you that are also reading Smile for Me; You'll probably have to wait a bit longer for an update. I still have a bunch of exams this week so I don't have a lot of writing time. I already had most of this one written before exams started so the only thing I really needed to do to finish this one was some editing. Hope you don't mind!_


End file.
